Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1887-07-10
MAI. HAIGHTS CABIN.
A WEIRD STORY TOLD ON rHR BANKS OF
KITTLB CREEK.
The Trouble That Lie. GOOdysars Bear Story GaV'
the MaiOr-Why He Fears lie Is a
Goner From the Gone
Woods.
Netp York Sun.

allllDuRu ~ VIZ ~ LuOheh
roses, the weather required q blazing fire
in Major Haight's cabin fireplace. A yell
lowish fog, such as 1 had never seen hover
ing at such an elevation before, where such
fogs as occasionally visit these hills are
white and feecy and e~phemeral as dew,
had formed around the south border of the
ground that stretches away from the
edge of the Majors pine-bor-
dered clearing, and was climb
ing, close-ranked and slowly, up the
bold escarpment of Big Oak Knob, like an
army storming a height Through the di-
agonal lines of falling rain the edge Of the
pine forest could be seen but dimly from
the cabin window, and the spiteful storm
seemed to begrudge even that dismal out
look, so savagely did it dash and beat
against the small and grimy pane. The
utter cheerlessness of the prospect without
had penetrated the cabin, and neither the
efforts of the blaze on the hearth, nor the
influence Of an Opaque bottle that stood
on the table between a cup of tea and q
green glass tumbler had been able to dis
pei it. So the major and | sat in gloomy
silence for nearly an hour, when suddenly
he broke the silence and said:
"Do We b1ieve th't a man IS years old,
an with only one leg an ont arm, would
tell a lie?"
The inquiry was a startling one under
the circumstances. II took me so by sur
prise that | said nothing and stared blank
ly at the major.
do We b'lieve it or not?" he repeated,
taking up the bottle and the teacup and
exacting its duty from each.
"Well, major" l said, that's o hard
question to answer, not knowing''-
II see," interrupted the old woodsman.
''Ye don't know the man, never seed him,
an never heerd him talk. Wall, ez this
moistur' can't keep a wringin' itself out
many days longer, 'cordin' to the way that
fog's bankin' of itself down yender long
the pond, an the way that winds a begin
min to slosh around 'mongst them pines,
an ez we won't hev no time to do il arter
this weather clears, fer wen it does clear
thur gointer be some all-sloppin' prime
picker'l tishin' in that pond, We'll jist
slide over through the woods to Lije
GoOdyear's an spend the evenin'. Lie is
the man Pm puzzled on. He's told me
sumthin' at least ev'ry year for 80 year,
and | can't make up nv mind wutheI he's
lyin' bout it or not. Wen he fus' told
me it | thort sure he were q stretcnin of it
pooty DUN taut, cause then he were only
45, an had both arms an legs. Wen he
get ketched in a bar trap by his right arm,
20 year ago, an had to stay ketched for
three days for any one kim along to take
him out, an then he had to hev his arm
cut off, / says to myself. if ever a man had
the habit o%flyin', this orter cure him, sure,
by guns. So / went over
to see Lie. He were nussin' his
arm, or ruther the place wear
the arm had ben, an were cut up ginerly,
wuss'n a b'ilt ham at q stun frOlic. But,
by gum! he kim straight to the dough
trough with that story, an never tinched
a muscle nor missed a word. Still l
couldn't get it jist squar' in my mind wat
to think abOnt it. / got to tossin' up pen
MES TO see wat | orter set down rs the
proper heft to give Lige an the yarn. I'd
say, Here goes! If it comes down head,
Lie is q liar. Tails he hain't.' Wall,
sometimes it'd come down heads an some
times it'd come down tails, an sol see th't
it wouldn't be fair to jedge Lige by toSsin'
a cent, an | were left flounderin' 'roun' in
the swamphole o ousartinty, ez OF Dea-
con SlOcum used to say in his prayer. So
| give up thinkin' bout it all, an use to
20 an hear Lies story Whenever | felt like
it. Say, hev We noticed anything absent
minded or kinder gone away bout me
l~ately?"
81 haven't, major" l said.
"Wall, tn hes beenr exclaimed my
host. Las December Lie Goodyear got
ketched ag'in. 'Twa'n't his arm this
time, an 'twa'n't in a bar trap. He sOt
down on Jerry's runaway to wait fur a
deer, an fell asleep. The deer kim along,
an ez it went slashin' through the brush
it woke Lie up. His gun were layin' on
the groun' 'longside O. him, an he made q
grab for it an ketched it by the bar'l. He
give il q yank, the banner struck agin q
stun, or sumpin', an the gun went of,
The ball Jest plowed through Lies knee,
an they carried him hum, an cut his leg
of. Then ! got to thinkin' bout that
yarn ag'n. Lie is 70 year old, l says,
am drawin' 'lOngto'ard the time when the
hunter that never misses his mark will
draw head on him an fotch him down. If
Lie tells me that story now, with one leg
off an one arm of, an him 70 years old,
how kin l help blievin him? An if he
don't tell me it ag'in, then he's ben the
most opmerciful liar fer 30 years that ever
tramped these woods since the days Of
of oh! you know them fellers | mean.
Them two fellers | used to hear Deacon
,Slocum preach about. They got struck
with o shower O. sulphur an brimstun',
or turned inter salt or sumpin', on count
o. their disposition to lie. Them's the fell
lers | mean.
"Wall, arter ! thort Lie must be gittin'
long pOoty smart ] went over TO see him.
He said he were poorly, an he looked it.
] sot thar for an hour an more, an Lie
didn't seem TO see the finger board e2
pinted him in the direction o. that story.
1t made me feel bad, but it were a great re,
lief to my mind. BY gum / says, Lille is
a liar Then | sot Il spell longer an got
up to 90, wen, if Lie didn't begin with
that story jis ez solemn ez if he were only
% year old, with both arms an legs, an
were p~reachin' q funeral sarmon, then
We kin bait me on a % trap,
He told it jist the same to me ez he
told it to me 80 years ago, shown me
how he ketched one o. the bars with one
hand by the throat and choked it till il
weakened, while he kicked the life outen
the others, am. But hOl' on! I'm a
leetle ahead O. my story. Wen Lie fus'
begun to tell me that story in 1857 he used
10 show me how he grabbed one o. the
bars by the throat with his right hand an
kicked another one to death with his left
foot, both at the same time. AFTER he
lost his right arm, wen he come to
that place in his story, he'd say: yell
'scuse me, MAZE, but We must mem
her, says he, th't 'twere with my
right hand ! choked the b'ar-this here
way-but now I've got to show We with
my left hand he says, how | done it.
So he'd say, 'p'tend this were my right
hand and then he'd go on with his
story. An that alluz puzzled me. I'D
say to myself th't if the man were lynn he